Killing Joke

[Pandemonium]

Lolz "Outside the Gate", the forever-be-damned Killing Joke album. It is pretty awful, and should never have been released under the band's name. Thankfully, they followed it up with that blazing "Extremities..." album.

I am interested to know what you love so much about KJ2003, and what your favourite KJ albums are and why, if you don't mind explaining. Forgive me, it's not often I meet someone who likes this band even remotely as much as I do.

My favourites are Pandemonium, What's THIS For, and Night Time. I don't know what the latter says to you about my fandom. I never had much of a problem with their mid-80's "Depeche Joke" output, bar Outside the Gate.

My top 5 Killing Joke albums:

KJ2003
Absolute Dissent
Pandemonium
Night Time
What's This For

Why do I rate KJ'03 so high... I guess because I had written the band off as a dead entity after the Democracy album breakup in '94-ish. I had casually followed the various member's solo work, especially Geordie's Murder Inc and Damage Manual projects but outside a few choice tunes, nothing really grabbed my attention. And Jaz's Symphonic Led Zep and Doors elevator music stuff further closed the door that there was anything left in the tank from these guys.

Then in mid '03, I caught wind that the band had reunited and recorded a new album and I heard a leaked song "Blood On Your Hands" and was completely blown away and got the album the day it was out. On thing that impressed me from the start was not only was it a strong album, but it broke new ground in the bands' style and sound. It sounds like nothing before it in their catalog and really, nothing in their catalog since sounds quite like it. For me, it's one of the few albums I can listen to from start to finish without skipping a track. It's also one of the *very few* albums that was clearly pieced together digitally yet sounds sonically cohesive.

So really, it was the kind of comeback/reunion album a fan of any band that's been dormant for a long time hopes for but rarely gets.

[guysmiley]

KJ2003 made me a fan. Then I went back and gave them a listen

[NYRexall]

My top 5 Killing Joke albums:

KJ2003
Absolute Dissent
Pandemonium
Night Time
What's This For

Why do I rate KJ'03 so high... I guess because I had written the band off as a dead entity after the Democracy album breakup in '94-ish. I had casually followed the various member's solo work, especially Geordie's Murder Inc and Damage Manual projects but outside a few choice tunes, nothing really grabbed my attention. And Jaz's Symphonic Led Zep and Doors elevator music stuff further closed the door that there was anything left in the tank from these guys.

Then in mid '03, I caught wind that the band had reunited and recorded a new album and I heard a leaked song "Blood On Your Hands" and was completely blown away and got the album the day it was out. On thing that impressed me from the start was not only was it a strong album, but it broke new ground in the bands' style and sound. It sounds like nothing before it in their catalog and really, nothing in their catalog since sounds quite like it. For me, it's one of the few albums I can listen to from start to finish without skipping a track. It's also one of the *very few* albums that was clearly pieced together digitally yet sounds sonically cohesive.

So really, it was the kind of comeback/reunion album a fan of any band that's been dormant for a long time hopes for but rarely gets.

I would have been fine if they had called it a day with Democracy back in 1996, but I'm not complaining because their last three albums have all been highly enjoyable to me.

I quite like KJ2003, but it's far from my favorite album of theirs. In fact, as enjoyable though it may be, I actually would probably place it towards the bottom of my list of KJ albums, only because it sounds so monochromatic to me, for some reason. It starts out with guns blazing on "Death and Resurrection Show" but I get bored with it if I try to listen to the album as a whole. Even with the God of Modern Drummers Dave Grohl himself pounding away throughout the whole thing.

So I guess my issue with it is, it just doesn't shift moods and textures enough for me, the way the majority of their other records do.

I am surprised you lean so heavily towards their later output as far as favourites go. I'd have thought you'd be one of those "old school KJ" fans I sometimes run into.

I remember buying their first two records in early-1995 and realizing where bands like Ministry, Skinny Puppy and NIN were coming from, in terms of sound. Later that summer, late one night, I was watching this old MTV show called "MTV Blocks" where they'd play 4 videos in a row by one artist. I was half-asleep and "Millenium" off Pandemonium came on. I already owned that album by that point, so I was familiar with the song. Imagine my surprise when they immediately followed that video up with "New Day", and then "Sanity". I was thinking "No way is this the same band".

Imagine my complete surprise and dismay when the 4th video they played was "Eighties", and suddenly I realized where my favourite Nirvana song came from. I had to actually go out and buy "Night Time" and "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" just to convince myself it was indeed the same band as the one on What's This For and Pandemonium.

I hope this thread becomes more popular than that whack-ass Radiohead one Feathers McGraw has going...

[Pandemonium]

It kind of ran backwards for me. I got into them at several different points in the 80's. A good friend who was really into punk got me into the first two albums around mid '83 and I really dug tunes like "Follow The Leaders" and "Wardance." At the time, I was really into The Lords Of The New Church who had a similar, tribal punk (but more goth) sound so KJ fit right into my tastes. But like you, a when I heard "Eighties" and "Love Like Blood" (at the beginning of '85) I was taken aback because their sound had changed significantly and I finally saw them for the first time on the "Night Time" tour at The Palace (now The Avalon) in Hollywood.

Unfortunately, their next few albums completely lost me and I basically wrote them off until I checked out the Pandemonium and Extremities albums when Pandemonium was released in the early 90's. I missed that tour and they never toured in the US again until '03 which I made a point of catching that show.

Here's a few great live clips from throughout their career:

[NYRexall]

Those live clips are ablaze and I enjoyed watching them. I've also been listening to KJ2003 in my car and around the house the last week or so and hearing it in a different light. The drums sound more propulsive than I remember and Jaz has some pretty weird lyrics on this one, even with the political slant.

[NYRexall]

Pando: just got a FB update from the KJ page. Their new album is almost finished.

Sweeeet.

[mockbee]

Here's hoping for at least a brief US tour....